Using What the Teacher Gives You...

I think back to the way I taught 20 years ago, even 10 years ago and I think..."How did my students learn anything?"  I was working hard and teaching the way I knew how (and how I was trained and evaluated) but I don't think I was as effective as I am now.  The expectations on us as teachers are so much higher in every aspect than ever before but most of those expectations make us better professionals.  It is almost a completely different job than when I started in 1991!  People that were students in the 70s, 80s, or 90s would not recognize the classroom of today and the resources that are available to our students. And it isn't just the internet and other technologies but even the rubrics, and syllabuses, and reading guides.  Students have more ways than ever to learn successfully. But..they need to use the things that are available.

In my history classes, each major assignment has requirements spelled out along with the grading rubric. Those items are always handed out way in advance of due dates.  However, it is very frustrating to have a student complain after a project has been returned because they did not look at the resources given to them ahead of time. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink, I guess.  Please, please, please students--look at the rubric and requirements before the due date. Think of the rubric like a checklist---"What do I need to do to get an A or a B?"

On another note, Ms. Kirchmer is leaving this week and I know all of you join me in wishing her well.  Student teaching is a tough gig--lots of work but no pay.  She worked hard though and I am sure you will agree that she possesses many of the attributes necessary to be a successful teacher. Maybe we will see her again in CNHS!

To all of you--enjoy your break and happy holidays! Recharge your batteries and come back in January ready to work hard!  My job is to get you ready for college and I take that job very seriously.

Marking Period 2, here we go!

One week until Thanksgiving and one marking period in the can...this year is moving along. I have to admit that I was loving the milder weather and I still don't feel ready for freezing temps. Sometimes I think it might just be easier to hibernate for the winter months but then I would miss out on a lot of fun like the holidays, Battle of the Classes, holiday concerts, and winter sports. There are lots of fun things to look forward to.

I continue to be pleased for the most part with the way all five classes are going. Students have gotten used to the routines and have learned to rely on the Edmodo page for guidance and resources.  We are continuing to work on important research and informational skills while learning interesting content. The AP students have been writing a lot and we continue to work on improving thesis statements.  They finish up WW I with an essay and a test this week.  We have had the opportunity to really discuss Woodrow Wilson as a leader and a visionary while being critical of some of his values and political skills. We compared and contrasted the League of Nations to the United Nations and debated the possibility of whether World War II could have been avoided. It is so wonderful to be able to discuss historical content on such a high level.

In ELL, they have just started to learn about WW I.  We will have a chance to discuss the causes and outcomes, as well as trench warfare and other strategies.  In the Academic classes, they have moved onto the 1920s and have started a fun group project that will have them research social and cultural events in the 1920s to create an electronic presentation.  They have been reading some primary and secondary documents about immigration restrictions and the Ku Klux Klan.

Our student teacher, Ms. Kirchmer, is with us until December 13th.  Although I have enjoyed her company and presence in the classroom, it is almost time for her to graduate and move onto her own classroom. Meanwhile, Happy Thanksgiving. I hope everyone is able to enjoy their family and friends!

Almost the end of the marking period...

Here we are at the end of the October and almost to the end of the 1st marking period. Of course, like many, my thoughts have turned to last year.  What a strange fall it was with no electricity and no school for 2 weeks.  I am so glad that we are a year away from that and I am hopeful that most of our neighbors are in a better place in 2013.

As we close into our last weeks of the 1st marking period, the majority of the students are making progress in both their content knowledge and study skills.  Parents--don't forget that you can have your own parent account on Edmodo if you want to see what we are doing in class.  Have your son/daughter log on and then look on the bottom left of the screen and there will be directions to help you open up your own account. Every class has a syllabus for each unit that spells out all homework and assessments for class. Each unit has a folder that includes the syllabus, any assignments and readings, projects, and rubrics.

In A.P., the students are writing their second DBQ (Document Based Question) this week.  Please encourage your students to review their rubrics and reread my comments on past essays so that they don't continue to make the same mistakes over and over again. As for content, we are finishing the Progressive Era and we will be starting World War I.  The Academic classes have already started W orld War I and will be debating American neutraily tomorrow.  The ELL students are still learning about the Progressive Era and will be blogging about child labor tomorrow.
Happy Halloween and Fall!

In the AP class last week, we had a mock congressional hearing to judge both President McKinley and President Roosevelt's actions in regards to imperialism. The students had to use documents and historical information to write testimony from the perspective of their historical person. Some struggled with the application skills but with a little help from me and their classmates, they were able to extrapolate the information and evidence they needed. After our test on the 16th, they will begin the Progressive Era. My student teacher, Ms. Kirchmer will begin to team teach with me in those classes next week.

In the Academic USII classes, they are in the middle of the unit on Progressivism. Ms. Kirchmer assigned a very creative project that required the students to research a famous person from that era and create a "Fakebook" page for them. This week the students will look at their classmates' "Fakebook" pages and determine which ones would have been in their "network". For example, the Civil Rights figures will have to locate each other and the Suffragists will have to find each other. They will write historical appropriate posts on each other's walls. Finally on another day, their "networks" will work as a team to determine overall how successful their movements were and what effect, if any, they had on history.  The students were required to use Facts on File, a database that the district pays for and is available in school and at home, for their research. I love the idea for this project because it hits so many skills--research, information processing, application, technology, and evaluation.

Finally, in our ELL. USHistory II class, our focus last week was on vocabulary and map skills. All of the teachers that teach ELL this year are using the same graphic organizer for vocabulary. We are hoping that the consistency will help them across the board in all of their subjects.  Subject wise, we have been talking about Imperialism so it has given us a chance to talk about some of their home countries like Colombia, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and China.

This is a day off from the classroom but not a day off from the work involved. I am grateful for the day to catch up.  I am determined to finish all of my college recommendations for my former students  before returning back to school tomorrow.  It is lengthy assignment but one that must be taken seriously--I would never want to be the reason a student was kept from their dream college.  Students seem to be applying to more and more universities each year; most of the applicants are applying to ten or more. Luckily, with almost all universities, the process has moved online and I no longer have to feed the CNHS letterhead into the printer (and hope I put it in the correct direction). Technology has definitely made this an easier process, at least on the teacher side of it. Now of course, I intend to finish the ones that have already requested a recommendation from me, but from experience I know I will get a few more requests about one week before their applications are due. A teacher's work is never done. ;)

Well today is October 2nd and I feel like we are really getting into the groove of the school year. The students have done an amazing job of getting my classroom routines down which allows us to get to business right away.  Those 47 minutes fly by!  In all of my classes, we are now studying Imperialism in the late 19th century and we were able to draw some parallels between the Filipino War and our most recent Iraqi War. We also made some time this week to discuss the government shut down and the Affordable Care Act. We even took a few minutes to watch a clip from Jimmy Kimmel's show about that topic. It was funny, if not a bit sad.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx2scvIFGjE
I did lecture all of the classes some about their responsibility to be informed citizens and encouraged them to read the news--even if it is on their phone.  I encouraged downloading Zite or Flipboard to help in that endeavor.  I will continue to discuss relevant current events in class while using websites like Factcheck.org to encourage discussions that are fact based. Parents, please bring up current events with them at home--it is so important for them to go to college with basic knowledge of important people and recent events. Plus many of them will be voting in one short year! Also if someday they get asked basic information on the street by a camera crew, they'll be able to say something intelligent, which probably won't get them on TV but won't embarrass them either.  :)

And we are off...

Teaching is like running on a treadmill, for 184 days. In fact the treadmill is already moving and this year, it is moving incredibly fast already.  We have to keep running at a faster and faster pace or we risk falling down and getting slammed into the nearest wall like some fail video. It is hard to explain to a non-educator just how incredibly busy life in a school is. This is not a complaint (although more than 28 minutes to eat lunch after being in the same room for almost 3 hours would be nice sometimes). This is just the reality of an exhausting job. But now we return from summer, refreshed and energized to take on the challenge. We return to school excited to meet our new students and excited to try new things in our classroom--like blogging so that we can keep our parents more informed. Just be patient with us; we will stumble on the treadmill sometimes but we almost always right ourselves. We are running just as fast as we can.

This year in Mrs. Floyd's classroom, I hope to try some new ways of assessing my students formatively. I also want to try student blogging to help with summative assessment. I am big on technology and an avid user of Edmodo in my classroom.  I encourage parents of my students to get an account as well. (Directions to follow for students and parents). I will continue to introduce my students to new and different technologies, as well as information researching and processing skills. My feet have already taken the first few steps on the treadmill even though I haven't met a student yet. Can't wait to because they make the exhaustion all worth while.